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"Drummer Da Fonseca perhaps the best Brazilian trap drummer of his generation, plays with an uncommon mix of finesse and drive" - Mark Holston, Jazziz Magazine

Drummer/Composer Duduka Da Fonseca is a blender, set at high speed. The Brazilian drummer (born in Rio De Janeiro in 1951), who arrived in New York City in 1975, has been actively exploring the perfect marriage and mixture of jazz and samba since forming his first Samba Jazz trio as a precocious 14 year old (a band he called "Bossa Trio"), with brother Miguel on bass. Over the years Da Fonseca has becomea master at combining these seemingly disparate worlds, and has emerged as one of the foremost proponents of the genre.

Flowing from his heart, his head and his hands, these two rich musical forms amalgamate as one glorious sonic experience that is the modern Samba-Jazz juggernaut, The Duduka Da Fonseca Quintet. The group's new recording on Anzic Records, Samba Jazz - Jazz Samba, features Anat Cohen (tenor saxophone, clarinet), Helio Alves (piano), Guilherme Monteiro (guitar), Leonardo Cioglia (bass) and Duduka Da Fonseca (drums).

Da Fonseca has shared the stage and studio with the cream of the crop from both Samba and jazz; from Antonio Carlos Jobim and Astrud Gilberto to Joe Henderson and Kenny Barron. As a member of the cooperatives, Trio da Paz and Brazilian Trio, Da Fonseca has contributed much to the propagation of the music that fuses the heart and soul of his adopted and birth lands. But it is arguably as the leader of the quintet heard here that he most convincingly demonstrates that "near perfect balance" between samba and jazz he has naturally played for so many years.

The Duduka Da Fonseca Quintet was founded by the drummer more than a decade ago, in the spring of 2002, when the popularity of samba jazz was reaching new heights. The group rehearsed regularly and developed its own powerfully personal style, built upon the individual creativity and collective cooperation of its members, all of them respected bandleaders and composers in their own right.

For this date, the follow up to the group's critically acclaimed Samba Jazz In Black & White, Da Fonseca draws upon not only the instrumental prowess of its players, but the compositional abilities of the many friends he has performed with during his auspicious career. The opening "Depois Da Chuva", penned by pianist Dom Salvador, was a staple of his quartet with Dick Oatts, Dennis Irwin and Da Fonseca. "Sabor Carioca", by saxophonist Raul Mascarenhas, hails back to the early seventies group Mandengo that he and the drummer were part of. Jobim's "Rancho Das Nuvens" is one of the great maestro's more obscure gems. Cohen's soulful arrangement of jazz master Ornette Coleman's "Blues Connotation" epitomizes the spirit of samba jazz, while pianist Haroldo Mauro's "Obstinado" demonstrates the genre's wide-ranging possibilities.

Duduka first heard "The Peacocks", played by its composer Jimmy Rowles at Bradley's, where NYC's jazz musicians congregated. "Dona Olimpia" is from the songbook of Toninho Horta, part of the leader's extended family. Da Fonseca's "Flying Over Rio" is his moving tribute to the beauty of his native land. "O Guarana" comes from one his oldest friends, pianist Alfredo Cardim, whom he calls "one of Brazil's great neglected writers." Duduka first played the concluding "Melancia", by Rique Pantoja, another unsung Brazilian pianist/composer, with the famed percussionist Naná Vasconcelos, godfather to the drummer's daughter Alana.

Family. Friends. Samba. Jazz. These are the things dear to Duduka Da Fonseca. Put them all together and you get the sound of Samba Jazz - Jazz Samba.